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First, I want to make it clear that my way of doing things is a combination of research on the Shroomery, common sense, laziness, and of course, many teks posted by fine members such as Stonesun, RogerRabbit, and Agar in particular, although RR would probably not like my methods much . Everything I've done has built upon knowledge gained through experimentation and reading here, so if I do something the same way as someone else or any of this has been done before, I do not mean to "Steal someone's tek".

This guide uses sclerotia producing strains, i.e. Galindoi, Mexicana A, and others. I recommend Galindoi. I get a little less per jar (About 120g per quart jar, usually), but the Galindoi are IMO more potent than Mex A and faster too.

This guide is not very advanced, but if you don't have a good grasp of doing grain spawn, you will most likely fail. I will include my grain prep tek as well to help as much as I can.

Now that the BS so I don't get angry PM's is over with, here's the tek.

Materials Needed:

Widemouth Ball Quart JarsLots of Ball Widemouth Quart jars. Buy Ball, they're made in the United States. And don't buy them from Wal-Mart, get them from a local grocery or hardware store if you can. Ball jars are very strong, I have never broken one, and the lids are very tough as well.

SubstrateI use organic rye berries and from a seed company. Any farming seed company should carry it. I buy it for 19.23 per 56lb bushel. I also use plain organic lawn seed from Rural King mixed in with the rye berries. I do this because it helps balance moisture content and gives more room for error, and because the seed fills in the empty spaces between the rye berries allowing for faster colonization. This also means more substrate per jar without using up extra space. Rye berries alone may be used, but the 3:1 mix of rye berries/grass seed is superior. Seed alone is not great as far as yield or potency, and is slower.

CoffeeYep, coffee. It really does wonders for the sclerotia producing strain used in this tek. Colonization, yield, and potency are all much better with it.

Drill and Drill BitsI recommend an AC drill that plugs into a wall rather than a battery powered drill. They are around $20 at national hardware stores, and have extremely high RPM compared to DC. Also, get a 1/2" drill bit and a 1/4" drill bit.

RTV/SiliconeYou can get this for around $4 per tube at auto stores. Some auto stores carry big cans of it with trigger dispensers. They are much better to use than tubes. I can do 30 jars in about 45 minutes using a tube, and I can do it in 25 minutes using the trigger dispenser silicone canisters.

Synthetic Filter DiscsAcquire these however you like, but the widemouth discs sold at several Shroomery sponsors will make 5 or 6 lids when cut up as per the coming directions. You can stuff the air hole with polyfill instead, but this guide is about doing things right, not half-assed. I have done over 200 jars open-air with not one contamination using GE lids made with synthetic filter discs. I have about a 9/10 success rate with polyfill, which is not good.

Pressure CookerGet an All American pressure cooker if you can, but a Presto works fine and is what I use. I got it for $70 on Ebay. It does 7qts at a time or 10 if you lay 3 on top of the ones on the bottom.

Syringes/LCYou will need MS syringes or LC syringes. I recommend LC. I've done around 200 Galindoi jars from 1 syringe, and I still have half a quart of it left. One MS syringe, which costs about 35 bucks, will do 10 jars if LC is not utilized. I will explain an easy LC tek later. All you need aside from the other materials listed here is honey to make one. I highly recommend also ordering some empty syringes if you don't have any. Reusing the same one works if you sterilize every time, but that is annoying. I got 100 syringes on Amazone for around $40. Make sure you get reasonably sized needles, ultra-thin needles won't suck up LC.

Butane Torch LighterWay easier than using a Bic, and much more effective. Alcohol lamps work well too. Bics are not sufficient here, and should only be used if it is the only thing available.

That's it as far as materials. Let's get to preparing the lids.

Making Reusable GE LidsMaking the lids is pretty easy. Take your drill and drill all your lids with a 1/4 inch hole near the middle, and a 1/2" hole near the outside of the lid. Fill the 1/2" hole with silicone, making sure to use plenty on the top AND bottom of the lid. You want at least 1/2" deep of silicone from the lid on both sides, and it needs to be spread around so that both sides are secured to the surface of the lid.

Next, cut up your synthetic filter discs into 1" by 1" squares. Apply a small bead of silicone around the bottom side of the filter square, then press it down onto the lid over the 1/4" hole, making sure to center it properly. If you do not put the filter square on centered, you may make a bad seal or obstruct your breather hole with silicone when you press the filter square down.

Let your lids dry on the jars or propped up somewhere for at least 3 hours before pressure cooking.

Preparing The SubstrateI do not 24 hour soak my rye, nor do I simmer it. I use a heat-accelerated soak. Dump your dry rye berries into a large pot (Pressure cookers work great). Add 1 1/2 cups rye berries per quart jar, and 1/2 cup of untreated grass seed per jar. Next, you want to add your water/coffee. The coffee needs to be about half the strength you'd drink it at, where it looks amber but not brown when looking through it.

Cover everything with enough water so that there is 3" of water over the rye berries. The grass seed will float at first, don't worry, this is normal.

Add the 8-10 cups of strong coffee, turn burner on very low, let soak for 3 hours while stirring every 15 to 30 minutes. You will know the rye berries are done when you can pinch all the way through one with your fingernail, but they do not smash when pinched between your fingers. Firm but moist on the outside, wet on the inside.

I then dump the rye into a strainer, pouring as much water/coffee as I can out before dumping the substrate into the strainer, shake the strainer around to drain as much water off as I can, and then let the substrate sit for a few hours. It takes longer to dry this way than simmering, but you burst no kernels using this method and it allows you to soak all of the substrate at once instead of doing the rye berries and grass seed separately.

Once the rye berries no longer stick to your hand when you lay your palm on them, they are ready to go into the pressure cooker. Load them into the jars and shake well with a solid lid before putting the new GE lid on the jar. Smacking the bottom of the jar against your palm works better than hitting it against something hard to knock the grass seed and rye berries off the lid and glass.

Load your filled jars with their new GE lids attached into your pressure cooker and cover them with aluminum foil. You need to keep the filter squares dry, or so I hear. I've never had a contam even when they got wet, but it's better to be safe. Pressure cook them at 15psi for 90 minutes. When done, your rye berries will look golden brown and dry/barely moist on the outside.

Making an LC (Optional)If you want to do a LOT of jars, you need to learn how to make an LC. There are many ways of doing this, but this is mine.

You need a widemouth jar with lid. I used a quart. Drill a 1/2" hole and fill with silicone just like a GE lid. Use LOTS of silicone, you'll be using this port a lot of times and it needs to stay sealed.

For the gas exchange, I do something a little different than most.

Drill a 3/8" hole. Take a syringe, and using some wire cutters/hedge clippers/etc, snip off all but 1/2" of the needle, which will mostly close off the needle from all but air.

Remove the plunger from your sacrificial syringe by pulling it out. Next, stuff the syringe with polyfill. You don't want it JAM PACKED in there, but it needs to be somewhat firm. Packed too tight is bad.

Finally, use one of the 1" filter squares we made or a custom cut filter disc piece to seal the hole that the plunger came out of. Use LOTS of silicone to ensure a total seal. Use lots more silicone to seal the filter syringe to the lid, inserting the needle end through your 3/8" hole.

Once everything dries, you have a shakeable LC lid that breathes in new air every time you draw LC from it. The filter syringe has 3 layers of protection from bacteria; the filter disc stops any from getting in through the top, the clipped needle keeps the LC from getting into the polyfill, and the polyfill provides additional protection in case either the needle lets LC into the syringe or the filter on the outside fails. To draw out LC, simply lay the jar on its side with the needle inside the jar on top so it is not submerged. As you draw LC out, it will suck fresh air in and your LC will continue growing even faster. I made my quart LC with 1cc MS solution leftover from a syringe, and I've made dozens of syringes with it, and will be able to make dozens more.

You can reuse this filter syringe many times, but one quart of LC makes about 80 syringes. I use 5-10cc of LC per jar because of this fact

Take a quart jar, just barely cover the bottom with honey, and fill to 700ml with HOT distilled water. Stir very well, pressure cook for 30 minutes, then inoculate with MS syringe.

Innoculating JarsEither draw LC into a syringe, make a grain LC syringe, oruse a MS syringe from a sponsor. Flame your needle with the butane torch or alcohol flame until RED HOT, then inoculate through the middle of the silicone injection port you created. I do this in a dirty kitchen with no sanitization of any kind, often don't even wash my hands. If you are careful, never suck air into the syringe, and always flame the needle until the first 1" of it is red hot, you won't get contams. I've had 0 contams with these lids after a few hundred jars of all kinds of mycelium, mostly normal edibles.

You can use this tek for Cubensis and fruit later, but if you're using Galindoi like I am, all your hard work is done. Wait 2-3 months, then harvest for around 3 oz fresh (1oz dry) per quart jar. It is very possbile to pull a pound fresh out of 7 quart jars. As for potency, they give great visuals and body high, but less of a "mind trip". Level 4 visuals/body high with level 2 Cubensis confusion usually happens for me at about 15g fresh, but I don't trip often. I give most of my crop away to friends and store the rest. I shouldn't have to grow for another 10 years after I harvest my next batch of 108 quarts...

I will add pictures to this tek and revise later. I am educating my wife right now so she can be my grow partner, and I needed to write out my style for her. Hopefully this will help someone or inspire some new ideas. My syringe filter LC lids are one of the things here I really recommend trying. They kick every other type of LC's ass as far as I can tell. I''ve done no-shake tyvek and filter disc LC's, shakeable baby bottle LC's, fruit juice, and more. This works best hands down.

--------------------Let the poor not tear down the fortune of the rich, but fervently build fortune of their own.

Tired of fruiting chambers, glove boxes, and flow hoods?
Tired of getting a few shrooms after all your hard work?
Tired of war, poverty, world hunger, and the government?

Quote:rerat said:Soooo...you're proud of being lazy? And encouraging others to do the same? This "tek" will come back to bite you in the ass, hard, if you ask me.

I'm proud of having over 100 Galindoi quart jars colonizing well from a single MS syringe, proud of 0 contaminations whatsoever, and proud that it took me about 5 minutes of actual work per jar.

I've done this with Mex A, Jalisco (HORRIBLE for sclerotia), and Galindoi, over 300 jars total, and I've had not 1 contam with my GE Lids and GE LC lid.

So, yes, I'm proud of being lazy.

There's a difference between lazy and stupid. Stupid would be making dozens of jars without testing the LC first, not knowing what mushroom mycelium looks like, not knowing how to correctly inoculate a jar, or making claims that a method will come back and bite you in the ass with no logical basis.

This tek is not for stupid people. If you're stupid, you shouldn't be growing drugs. If you're smart and don't mind growing stones instead of shrooms, this is a great way to produce a LOT with no special equipment, and with little effort. I can produce over 100 doses with about 3 hours of work (Not counting waiting for PC/etc).

If you don't think this tek will work, I guess you should go grow some cakes with your flow hood and forget you ever read it.

Quote:carnage11 said:I do everything open air as well. Never had a contamination either.

Though, it's not for everyone. Perhaps it has do to with my location, the cleanliness of my house, a good amount of common sense, etc. etc...

I'm not gonna say contamination isn't a risk, but I believe it's more a risk to some and not so much to others.

Good comment.

I think it has the most to do with common sense and not being truly lazy/stupid. Sure, my tek is not very labor intensive, but I am careful during inoculations and have a high quality standard for my lids. I wish I could say my house is really clean, but it isn't. I have 2 roommates, and both of them are messy. Empty beer cans get moldy quick. Even still, if you do this right, you should be able to inoculate inside a dumpster without contaminants. INJEction ports are awesome.

Substituting filter discs for polyfill, inoculating through filter discs (What a dumbshit thing to do), and not doing a test jar with your LC before you inoculate 50 jars are all ways your laziness can bite you in the ass.

Maybe I should say I prefer to "Work smart" Rather than be lazy.

Sclerotia are also nice because they're very low key, and I could have the entire op in my trunk and out of the house in about 7 minutes according to my emergency plan. They're also so low key that you can't even sell them. Most people are downright scared of them and won't eat them, and when I hypothetically posed the question to my MJ guy, who is a distributor, he said there's no way he could get rid of them. This isn't a problem for me, as some of you may know my feelings about selling psychoactives.

--------------------Let the poor not tear down the fortune of the rich, but fervently build fortune of their own.

Tired of fruiting chambers, glove boxes, and flow hoods?
Tired of getting a few shrooms after all your hard work?
Tired of war, poverty, world hunger, and the government?

I do all my work in front of a statue of Jesus, Buddha, and Moses while wearing a lucky rabbits foot during a full moon and have had 0% contam rate! I normally just lick my finger to wipe the spores off the prints. It helps rehydrate them from the saliva. Then i just stir my finger around the WBS. You just got to have faith sometimes srsly.

Quote:PinsWellWithOthers said:I do all my work in front of a statue of Jesus, Buddha, and Moses while wearing a lucky rabbits foot during a full moon and have had 0% contam rate! I normally just lick my finger to wipe the spores off the prints. It helps rehydrate them from the saliva. Then i just stir my finger around the WBS. You just got to have faith sometimes srsly.

It's not that open-air methods can't be sterile, a lot of people just assume that. If it wasn't sterile I'd get contams. We have tools at our disposal like lighters, silicone, and pressure cookers. If you utilize them properly, you don't need all the special equipment.

I do cubes too, btw. Got a tub going right now that I pulled a monster off of last night. I'll post pics when I post some for the tel. I'm going to show how to make the LC lids since people apparently need pictures.

--------------------Let the poor not tear down the fortune of the rich, but fervently build fortune of their own.

Tired of fruiting chambers, glove boxes, and flow hoods?
Tired of getting a few shrooms after all your hard work?
Tired of war, poverty, world hunger, and the government?